File photo: An Apple sales associate speaks with a customer waiting to purchase a new iPhone X in New York, U.S., November 3, 2017. (REUTERS/Lucas Jackson)
It looks like Apple CEO Tim Cook is out to embarrass Mark Zuckerberg again.
Apple on Wednesday introduced a slew of new privacy controls for iPhone and Mac users — a day after the Facebook CEO was hauled in front of European lawmakers in Brussels to testify about the social network’s data-leaking scandals.
Apple’s new “Data and Privacy” site will allow customers to download all the information the iPhone-maker has stored about them, including iTunes and App Store history, as well as Apple ID accounts and iCloud data.
Users will be able to visit the site and find clearly labeled instructions to get a copy of the data Apple has collected on them, Apple said. The page also will let users easily deactivate or delete their accounts, which will also delete all of the information from Apple’s servers as well.
This is only the latest step the company has taken to make itself look good at Facebook’s expense.
Last week, during his commencement address at Duke University, Cook slammed Facebook for its privacy standards in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which saw the private information of nearly 90 million Facebook users fall into the hands of the Trump campaign-linked data firm.
“We reject the excuse that getting the most out of technology means trading away your right to privacy,” Cook said.
He added that Apple has chosen a “different path, collecting as little of your data as possible, being thoughtful and respectful when it’s in our care because we know it belongs to you.”
In late March, immediately following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Cook bragged in an interview with Recode that Apple would never have found itself in the same position as Facebook because it views privacy as a “human right” and a “civil liberty.”
“The truth is we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer, if our customer was our product,” Cook said. “We’ve elected not to do that.”
Zuckerberg struck back in an interview with Vox, charging that Apple is “just serving rich people” with its pricey gadgets.
“You know, I find that argument, that if you’re not paying that somehow we can’t care about you, to be extremely glib and not at all aligned with the truth,” the 34-year-old Zuckerberg said.
“I think it’s important that we don’t all get Stockholm Syndrome and let the companies that work hard to charge you more convince you that they actually care more about you,” Zuckerberg said. “Because that sounds ridiculous to me.”
This story originally appeared in the New York Post.
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